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Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future director Jennifer Lynch shortly after he turned 21. That experience, plus attending art school in a particularly violent and run-down area of Philadelphia, inspired Eraserhead (1977), a film that he began in the early 1970s (after a couple of shorts) and which he would work on obsessively for five years. The final film was initially judged to be almost unreleasable weird, but thanks to the efforts of distributor Ben Barenholtz, it secured a cult following and enabled Lynch to make his first mainstream film (in an unlikely alliance with Mel Brooks), though The Elephant Man (1980) was shot through with his unique sensibility. Its enormous critical and commercial success led to Dune (1984), a hugely expensive commercial disaster, but Lynch redeemed himself with the now classic Blue Velvet (1986), his most personal and original work since his debut. He subsequently won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival with the dark, violent road movie Wild at Heart (1990), and achieved a huge cult following with his surreal TV series Twin Peaks (1990), which he adapted for the big screen, though his comedy series On the Air (1992) was less successful. He also draws comic strips and has devised multimedia stage events with regular composer Angelo Badalamenti. He had a much-publicized affair with Isabella Rossellini in the late 1980s.- Director
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Moved to New York City at the age of seventeen from Akron, Ohio. Graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English, class of '75. Without any prior film experience, he was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts, New York.Ghost Dog, Broken Flowers...- Director
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Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has won numerous national and international awards for his poetic feature and documentary films.Grizzly Man...- Director
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He grew up in Versailles with a family who was very influenced by pop music. When he was young, Gondry wanted to be a painter or an inventor. In the 80s he entered in an art school in Paris where he could develop his graphic skills and where he also met friends with whom he created a pop-rock band called Oui-Oui. The band released 2 albums ('Chacun tout le monde' and 'Formidable') and several singles until their separation in 1992. Gondry was the drummer of the band and also directed their video clips in which it was possible to see his strange world, influenced by the 60s and by his childhood. One of his videos was shown on MTV and when Björk saw it, she asked him to make her first solo video for 'Human Behaviour'. The partnership is famous: Gondry directed five other Björk's videos, benefiting by the huge budgets. This led to commissions for other artists around the world, including Massive Attack. He also made a lot of commercials for Gap, Smirnoff, Air France, Nike, Coca Cola, Adidas, Polaroid and Levi - the latter making him the most highly-awarded director for a one-off commercial.
Hollywood became interested in Gondry's success and he directed his first feature movie Human Nature (2001), adapting a Charlie Kaufman's scenario, which was shown in the 2001 Cannes Festival. Although it wasn't a big success, this film allowed him to direct Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he again collaborated with Charlie Kaufman. The movie became a popular independent film and he and his co-writers won an Oscar for it.Se mi lasci ti cancello, L'arte del sogno, Be kind rewind...- Producer
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Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the direction of Mike D and Adam Horovitz and Adam Yauch before the sad demise of Grand Royal Records. Jonze was also responsible for directing the famous Beastie Boys: Sabotage (1994) short film as well as numerous other music videos for various artists.Essere John Malkovich, Nel paese delle creature selvagge- Composer
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Writer-director Shane Carruth, a former software engineer, burst onto the independent movie scene with his extremely low-budget science-fiction film Primer (2004) in 2004. Carruth also played one of the two leads in the film and composed its music. "Primer" won the Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred P. Sloan Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 1972, Carruth studied mathematics in college and became a flight simulation software developer before making his first movie. Carruth then spent the next eight years developing "A Topiary", another science-fiction film. The movie was never made and Carruth said that "I basically wasted my whole life on" the project.
Carruth finally made a second film, Upstream Color (2013), which was released in 2013 after debuting at the Sundance Film Festival. He is working on his third film, "The Modern Ocean".Primer- Director
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Christopher Smith was born in 1970 in Bristol, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Triangle (2009), Severance (2006) and Black Death (2010).Creep - il chirurgo, Triangle, Black Death...- Director
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Adam Green is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor known for his success within the horror genre with films like the "Hatchet" franchise, "Frozen," and "Digging Up The Marrow." He is also the creator, writer, director, star, and show runner of the television comedy series "Holliston" and the singer for the metal band "Haddonfield."
Born and raised in the small town of Holliston, Massachusetts, Green grew up performing leading roles in school plays and hosting his own morning radio program "Coffee & Donuts" on the town's local radio station. He graduated from Holliston High School in 1993. Upon graduating from Hofstra University in New York with a Bachelor of Science in film and television production in 1997, Green landed a job producing and directing local and regional cable television commercials at Time Warner Cable Advertising back in his hometown of Boston. While working at Time Warner he met cinematographer Will Barratt and in 1998 the two formed their own production company ArieScope Pictures and began making short films together under the ArieScope banner. During this time period Green was also the lead singer for the hard rock/metal band "Haddonfield" which amassed a large and loyal following as they headlined weekly club shows in Salam, MA and other large venues around Boston's north shore in the late 90's. In 1999 at the age of 24, Green wrote, directed, and starred in his first feature film "Coffee & Donuts" which was based on his own life and his experiences chasing his career dreams while trying to get over the break-up with his first girlfriend/childhood love. The autobiographical comedy was made for only $400 by "borrowing" Time Warner's commercial production equipment after hours and ultimately gained the attention of United Talent Agency (UTA) in Los Angeles when it won "Best Picture" in (what was then called) The Smoky Mountain Film Festival. Signed by UTA as an official client, Green moved to Los Angeles in February of 2000 with the intention of turning "C&D" into a sit-com.
Though reactions were positive and interest in "Coffee & Donuts" was strong within the industry, Green's first three years in Los Angeles were a major struggle and he survived by doing any odd job that would pay or feed him. Though he was able to find occasional paid work as everything from an on-set production assistant, to performing as a stand-up comic, to working as a writer's/show runner's assistant, to performing as an extra/background, to writing, shooting, and editing local cable commercials, to ghost writing jokes for other stand-up comics, Green's main occupation from 2000 to 2003 was working as the DJ in the upstairs nightclub at the world famous Rainbow Bar and Grill where he survived off of the left-over food off of customer's plates or by eating out of the restaurant's trash at the end of each night. He performed stand-up comedy at various Hollywood night clubs including monthly comedy shows at the Rainbow with his regular troupe of comedians/friends that included comics Andy Sandberg, Chris Romano, and Eric Falconer whom had also all yet to be discovered at that time. In 2003 Green sold "Coffee & Donuts" as a sit-com to Touchstone/UPN with Tom Shadyac producing. However, the week after Green delivered the final draft of his pilot script for "Coffee & Donuts", UPN announced a merger with the WB (creating the CW network) and all of UPN's pilot development was scrapped, tying up the rights to Green's dream project and life story for a further 5 years. ("C&D" would wind up going through thirteen years of development and false starts due to random corporate mergers at various networks and studios before eventually coming to fruition as the television series "Holliston" in 2012.)
Green first gained worldwide recognition with his independent slasher comedy "Hatchet", a story and character ("Victor Crowley") that he had first come up with while at summer sleep away camp in 1983 when he was just 8 years old in an effort to scare the other children in his cabin. Written in 2003 while Green was spinning heavy metal records in the DJ booth at the Rainbow, "Hatchet" was filmed independently in May/June of 2005 and had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, 2006. Green spent the next 18 months traveling the world with his gruesome slasher/comedy as it played dozens of film festivals, winning a multitude of awards and accumulating incredibly positive reviews from critics and fans along the way. "Hatchet" received a US theatrical release through Anchor Bay on September 7, 2007 and introduced the world to the iconic villain "Victor Crowley." A worldwide success, "Hatchet" has spawned three sequels to date. Green wrote and directed "Hatchet 2" which arrived in US theaters on October 1, 2010 and he also wrote and produced "Hatchet 3" (2013) which opened in US theaters on June 14, 2013.
After the first "Hatchet" film was massively censored by the Motion Picture Association of America for its 2007 theatrical release, Green made international headlines in 2010 by standing up to the MPAA's archaic and secretive ratings system and refusing to accept the organization's arbitrary NC-17 rating for "Hatchet 2" which the filmmaker stated was completely unfair given the comedic tone of his film and in comparison to the serious torture porn style films of the time, many of which featured sequences of rape and mean spirited, realistic violence but which also happened to be distributed by major studios. After offering cuts and re-submitting "Hatchet 2" to the MPAA numerous times to no avail in an effort to try and find a compromise for an "R" rating, Green and distributor Dark Sky ultimately opted to release the "Hatchet 2" uncut through an arrangement with AMC cinemas, making it the first genre film in almost 30 years to be released in mainstream multiplexes without an MPAA rating. Though the unrated release of "Hatchet 2" was endorsed and conducted exclusively through AMC theaters, the chain immediately began pulling the film from all screens upon its midnight opening and within just 48 hours of its release the film had mysteriously disappeared from all AMC screens nationwide. Though journalists in the media pointed to outside pressure from the MPAA on AMC to pull the film, no explanation was ever given on official record by a proper representative of AMC and the MPAA refused to comment on the matter. With "Hatchet 3" being green-lit almost immediately after "Hatchet 2" arrived on home video, "Victor Crowley" still succeeded despite the AMC/MPAA debacle.
Though "Hatchet" was always intended to be a trilogy, on August 22, 2017 Green took the entire genre world by surprise when he suddenly showed a 4th "Hatchet" film (titled "Victor Crowley") to a sold-out audience of fans that thought they had gathered at the Arclight Cinema in Hollywood, CA to watch a 10th anniversary screening of the original film. Written and directed by Green, "Victor Crowley" was made in complete secrecy over a two year period as the filmmaker's surprise to the fans (known as the "Hatchet Army") on the 10th anniversary of the original "Hatchet." The stunt worked famously and "Victor Crowley" was trending #5 in the world on social media on the night of its surprise premiere in Hollywood, CA - two spots above Marvel's star-studded A-list celebrity attended "Stan Lee Celebration" that was taking place that same night. Green immediately began a worldwide tour with the film that started just three nights later in London, England and carried on through cities in Germany, Canada, and all across the United States (where the tour was dubbed the "Dismember America Tour") until the middle of November. By the end of the tour "Victor Crowley" had played nightly in 57 cities and 4 countries with Green personally appearing and speaking at most of the screenings. To date "Victor Crowley" is the best reviewed of the four "Hatchet" films and the most financially successful film in the franchise since the original. Three months after the theatrical release, the film was released on home video on February 6, 2018. In the weeks leading up to the home video release "Victor Crowley" was the #3 best seller on Amazon.com and among the top 10 most pre-ordered Blu-Rays worldwide ranking above wide release studio films like "Justice League," "Blade Runner," "Jigsaw," and "Get Out" further solidifying the "Hatchet" franchise's villain "Victor Crowley" as a modern day horror icon.
"Hatchet" also earned Green his place in the "Splat Pack", a term coined by esteemed UK film critic Alan Jones to describe a core group of new genre filmmakers who brought practical effects and extreme violence/gore back to the horror genre in the mid 2000's. Heralded by Jones as "the next wave of genre filmmakers," his original article about the "Splat Pack" ran in Total Film magazine in April of 2006 and by October both Time Magazine and the New York Post had also published stories about the "Splat Pack." Green appeared in the 2010 documentary "The Splat Pack" that also featured extensive interviews with his fellow "Splat Pack" members Eli Roth, Neil Marshall, Darren Bousman, Alex Aja, and Greg McLean. (Missing from the documentary were "Splat Pack" members James Wan and Rob Zombie.) Various merchandise based on "Hatchet" and its iconic villain "Victor Crowley" continues to sell more and more each year and in August of 2015 the first widely distributed "Victor Crowley" Halloween mask hit retail shelves across America, selling out of stock nationwide long before the Halloween holiday had arrived. In 2011 "Victor Crowley" first appeared in comic book form in "Hatchet/Slash", a crossover comic between Green's "Hatchet" films and Tim Seeley's long-running "Hack/Slash" comic series. In October of 2016 the first issue of the official "Hatchet" comic hit retail stores and the series has continued on strong with a new issue being released every 3-4 months. Green's first novel, the "Hatchet" tie-in "I, Survivor" will be released in May of 2018. "I, Survivor" first appeared in "Victor Crowley" as a fictitious autobiography written by the film's main character "Andrew Yong," however Green and author Joe Knetter co-wrote the actual book so that fans could delve even further into the "Hatchet" universe and fill in the ten years that had passed in the storyline between "Hatchet 3" and "Victor Crowley."
Aside from "Hatchet" (2007) and its three sequels (2010, 2013, 2017), Green continued and diversified his filmmaking legacy by directing the award winning Hitchcockian psycho-drama "Spiral" (2008), by producing the Sundance shocker and critically acclaimed "Grace" (2009), by writing and directing another Sundance darling and global success the very next year with his snowy suspense thriller "Frozen" (2010), by producing, writing, and directing the comedy "The Diary of Anne Frankenstein" which was included as part of the drive-in anthology film "Chillerama" (2011), and by writing, directing, and starring in the genre bending and highly praised successful pseudo-documentary "Digging Up The Marrow" (2015). In between his feature films Green also continued to write and direct various short films for his ArieScope website just for fun, several of which went on to become full blown viral hits with millions of views on-line including "Jack Chop," "Fairy Tale Police," and "Saber." Written, directed, and edited by Green, "Saber" received two awards in Lucasfilm's annual Star Wars Fan Film Awards at San Diego Comic-Con in 2009 ("Best Action" and "Audience Choice") and also spawned two sequels that were released to huge success in 2012 and 2014.
Meanwhile, after thirteen years of development and setbacks due to network mergers, in 2011 Green's ultimate passion project "Coffee & Donuts" was finally brought to fruition as the sit-com "Holliston." In its new form, Green was not only "Holliston's" creator but also the series' show-runner, writer, director, and main star. Licensed for broadcast by the FEARnet cable network, "Holliston" had its world television premiere on April 3, 2012 and quickly found a loyal audience. A second season was announced the morning after only the second episode had aired. An hour-long "Holliston Christmas Special" premiered later that same year on December 18th and is still considered by most fans to be their favorite episode of the series with its unexpected amount of emotion including a tear-jerking final scene between "Adam" and "Corri" that was revealed on the Blu-ray commentary track to have been completely improvised by actors Adam Green and Corri English. Season 2 of "Holliston" premiered on June 4, 2013 and further solidified the series as a hit despite FEARnet's extremely limited broadcast accessibility. However, just as Green was beginning to write Season 3, "Holliston" suffered the tragic death of main ensemble cast member Dave Brockie who passed away in what was eventually reported to be a drug overdose. Brockie not only played "Oderus Urungus" on "Holliston" (Green's character's imaginary alien friend and ulterior conscience), he had also performed as the lead singer for the heavy metal band GWAR for 30 years and was one of Green's closest friends in real life. To make matters even worse, just three weeks after Brockie's death, the FEARnet television network was suddenly dissolved in yet another unforeseen corporate merger between Comcast and Time Warner. In August of 2014 Green delivered a eulogy for Brockie at a public memorial in Virginia attended by several thousand GWAR and "Holliston" fans. During his speech, Green's played back the final voice mail Brockie had left for him and concluded by asking the thousands of fans that were present to all hold their hands together in the air. "This is your metal family," Green reminded the grieving fans. "And your metal family will always be here for you." The memorial concluded with a traditional viking style burning of Brockie's "Oderus Urungus" costume in Richmond's Haddad Lake. Overcome with grief, Green stepped away from "Holliston" for several years without any word if he would ever return to his show again.
During Green's indefinite hiatus from "Holliston," he continued to do a weekly podcast with fellow director, co-star, and real-life best friend Joe Lynch called "The Movie Crypt" on the GeekNation digital network. Named after the fictitious cable access program that Green and Lynch's character's host on "Holliston", "The Movie Crypt" was originally designed to merely be a spin-off and companion piece to the sit-com and the two filmmakers only planned to do the podcast for the ten weeks that Season 2 was airing. However, their weekly program began pulling in extraordinarily high numbers and quickly became one of the most popular entertainment industry behind the scenes podcasts on the internet due to Green and Lynch's enjoyable on-air chemistry and the duos unfiltered honesty about their real-life experiences as working artists in the Hollywood system. Focusing on a different guest artist's entire career journey each week, "The Movie Crypt" showcases all sides of the industry from filmmakers to actors to costumers to agents to studio executives to musicians and beyond. Guests have included Chris Columbus, Slash, Joe Dante, Jordan Peele, James Gunn, Penelope Spheeris, Bobcat Goldthwait, and Rob Cohen. By January of 2015 "The Movie Crypt" was averaging over 500,000 worldwide listeners a week and the podcast was listed in Entertainment Weekly's January 9th issue as one of "The Top 20 Podcasts You Should Be Listening To" out of over 285,000 podcasts in existence. In addition to their candid and compelling weekly artist interviews, Green and Lynch have also produced special stand out episodes of "The Movie Crypt" such as the November 2015 "Addiction" episode that tackled substance abuse and addiction within the industry, the December 2014 "Holliston Reunion" episode where the cast performed a new original "Holliston" episode designed as a radio play, and their December 2015 "Christmas Special" which featured a sincere and moving 2-hour interview with Santa Claus that remains the podcast's most popular episode to date. Green and Lynch have never missed a single week since the podcast first launched on May 6, 2013. It was "The Movie Crypt's" unplanned and unexpected success that would ultimately set the stage for the return of "Holliston."
In August of 2015 Entertainment Weekly made the announcement that Green and his cast had decided that they would indeed continue on with "Holliston" and do a 3rd season. In February of 2016 the "Holliston" cast appeared together on Facebook live where they answered questions from fans after completing their first ever read through of two of Green's new scripts for Season 3. During the Q&A with fans Green stated that "Oderus" would not be recast or replaced and that when "Holliston" returns he would acknowledge the loss of Brockie and then move on with the show, keeping his character's closet door permanently closed for as long as the series may continue. As of the time of this writing, Season 3 of "Holliston" is expected to begin shooting once the cast's individual production schedules can line-up together. With series stars Adam Green and Joe Lynch both consistently directing feature films and other television shows and with series co-star Dee Snider so busy with his various music projects and tours it is very difficult to get the entire cast together at the same time to shoot. The first official "Holliston" graphic novel (titled "Friendship Is Tragic") was announced and previewed on March 17, 2016 at Chicago's C2E2 comic book expo and pop culture convention. The comic book hit retail shelves in the Fall of 2016 and a sequel was green-lit just four days later. The second graphic novel (titled "Carnival of Carnage") hits shelves in May of 2018.
In 2015 Green turned ArieScope.com into an on-line network by offering weekly original programming. With over 100 free short films and original series' episodes to watch, Green's personal blog, and an on-line merchandise store, ArieScope.com has become a destination site for original content to millions of fans worldwide. Original series such as "Adam Green's Scary Sleepover" and "Horrified" proved to be extremely popular with fans and ArieScope.com also released the award winning series "20 Seconds To Live" which was helmed by filmmaker Ben Rock, an artist that Green personally believes in and wanted to expose his own audience to. Green's original on-line series and various short films are also carried on ArieScope's YouTube channel which has received over 4.6 million individual views to date.
In 2017 Green once again turned his attention back to his longtime band "Haddonfield" and the group released the album "Ghosts of Salem" on vinyl, CD, and digital through EMP Label Group and Green's own sub-label ArieScope Records. On October 14, 2017 "Haddonfield" celebrated the release of "Ghosts of Salem" with a live performance at the Palladium in Worcester, MA during the annual Rock And Shock horror and music festival. "Ministry," "Devil Driver," and "Motionless In White" also performed at the festival with "Haddonfield" in 2017.
A celebrated leader and inspirational personality in the horror genre, Adam Green has amassed an enormous following worldwide through his down to earth and extraordinarily kind demeanor at personal appearances, by his accessibility to his fans on social networking, by performing improv comedy and original live "Holliston" episodes for fans on the convention circuit, by never charging his fans for his autograph or photo, by consistently putting out new entertainment for his audience on such a frequent schedule, and by inspiring and encouraging his own fans that they too can achieve their dreams so long as they don't let the world's negativity change or disenchant their spirit. Green has personally organized and lead many charity events over the years. In May of 2013 he raised over $15,000.00 to help the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing by putting on a three-night fundraiser in his home town of Boston where he held theatrical screenings of the "Hatchet" films, a preview screening of select Season 2 episodes of "Holliston", and a silent auction of celebrity donated genre memorabilia. In April of 2015 Green also helped raise $7,000.00 for "Save A Yorkie Rescue" at the Monstermania convention in New Jersey by auctioning himself off for a date with a fan and auctioning off a screen-used prop hatchet. While on stage during the auction event, Green stated that it was the companionship of his own Yorkie "Arwen" that got him through the various personal tragedies he underwent in 2014. "You're not just saving the lives of these wonderful dogs, you're also very likely saving the lives of the people who will adopt them." Adam Green and Joe Lynch also put on an annual 48-hour live marathon of their Movie Crypt podcast to benefit "Save A Yorkie Rescue." The two filmmakers and "Holliston" co-stars stay on the air live for an entire weekend with celebrity guests joining them around the clock providing live comedy, film commentaries, script readings, and interviews to raise money for the dog rescue through donations from their audience. The Movie Crypt marathon raised $14,000.00 in 2016 and $24,000.00 in 2017, saving hundreds of abused and abandoned dogs that were in dire need of medical care and foster homes.
At the time of this posting Adam Green is developing Season 3 of "Holliston," working on a new TV series called "Killer Pizza" which is being produced by Chris Columbus, working on his next feature film project, and writing his next record with "Haddonfield" as well as working on many other projects. He lives in Los Angeles with his dog "Arwen" and his cat "Tyler." An avid music fan he has been known to follow bands on tour such as "Aerosmith," "Metallica," and "Guns N Roses." "Twisted Sister" is his favorite band of all time and 1982's "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" remains his most favorite film. He is active on Twitter and Instagram at @Adam_Fn_Green and he also personally responds to his fans on his public Facebook page: Facebook.com/AdamFnGreen.
Biography submitted to IMDB in May 2016. Updated in March 2018.Hatchet, Frozen...- Director
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Brad Anderson was born in 1964 in Madison, Connecticut, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Session 9 (2001), Transsiberian (2008) and The Machinist (2004).Session 9, L'uomo senza sonno- Writer
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Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the black comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), before achieving both critical and commercial success with his subsequent films: the crime thriller Memories of Murder (2003), the monster film The Host (2006), the science fiction action film Snowpiercer (2013), and the black comedy thriller Parasite (2019), all of which are among the highest-grossing films in South Korea, with Parasite also being the highest-grossing South Korean film in history.
All of Bong's films have been South Korean productions, although both Snowpiercer and Okja (2017) are mostly in the English language. Two of his films have screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival-Okja in 2017 and Parasite in 2019; the latter earned the Palme d'Or, which was a first for a South Korean film. Parasite also became the first South Korean film to receive Academy Award nominations, with Bong winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, making Parasite the first film not in English to win Best Picture. In 2017, Bong was included on Metacritic's list of the 25 best film directors of the 21st century. In 2020, Bong was included in Time's annual list of 100 Most Influential People and Bloomberg 50.Memories of Murder, The host - Gwoemul, Tokyo!, Mother- Producer
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Park Chan-wook was born on 23 August 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He is a producer and writer, known for Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022). He is married to Eun-hee Kim. They have one child.Oldboy...- Writer
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James Richard Kelly better known as Richard Kelly, is an American film director and writer, known for writing and directing the cult classic Donnie Darko in 2001. Kelly was born James Richard Kelly in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Lane and Ennis Kelly. He grew up in Midlothian, Virginia, where he attended Midlothian High School and graduated in 1993. When he was a child, his father worked for NASA on the Mars Viking Lander program. He won a scholarship to the University of Southern California to study at the USC School of Cinema-Television where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He made two short films at USC, The Goodbye Place and Visceral Matter, before graduating in 1997.Donnie Darko, The Box- Art Department
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Vincenzo Natali was born on 6 January 1969 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Cube (1997), In the Tall Grass (2019) and Cypher (2002).Cube - Il cubo, Splice- Director
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Indian director Tarsem Singh is the son of an aircraft engineer. He was educated at Bishop Cotton Boy's School in Shimla and relocated to the USA to study business at Harvard and, significantly, film studies at the Art Center College of Design in California. Upon graduating he embarked on a career as a director of music videos, working with such artists as Suzanne Vega, En Vogue, Vanessa Paradis and, most notably, R.E.M.. Tarsem's video for their song 'Losing My Religion' went on to win six MTV Video Music Awards, including the coveted 'Video of the Year'. He's made several music videos influenced by the work of the genius Sergei Parajanov and his masterpiece The Color of Pomegranates (1969), most notably Lady Gaga's song 911.
As well as music videos, Tarsem has directed some high profile television commercials, including the Pepsi "We Will Rock You" campaign, featuring Britney Spears, Pink and Beyoncé. He went on to make his feature film directorial debut with the visually striking The Cell (2000). His other films include The Fall (2006), Immortals (2011) and Mirror Mirror (2012).The cell - La cellula, The Fall- Director
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Alex Proyas has moved effortlessly between helming TV commercials and music videos to feature films. Born to Greek parents in Egypt, Proyas relocated to Australia with his family when he was three years old. He began making films at age ten and went on to attend the Australian Film Television and Radio School along with Jane Campion and Jocelyn Moorhouse. Proyas collaborated with Campion on two of her shorts, A Girl's Own Story (1984), for which he wrote and performed a song, and Passionless Moments (1983), which he photographed. Proyas' own short, Groping (1980), had earned him some attention at festival screenings in Sydney and London. Also while still a student, the enterprising novice formed Meaningful Eye Contact, a production company. Spirits of the Air: Gremlins of the Clouds (1987) marked Proyas' feature debut as director and screenwriter. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the film, with its stylized production design and aural texture, was atypical of standard Australian fare, more closely resembling a longform music video. Critics admired the director's vision, but felt the overall result was lacking. Proyas continued to hone his craft helming TV advertisements for products like Nike, Nissan and Swatch (earning kudos from advertising associations in both Australia and England) and directing videos for such artists as Sting, INXS and Crowded House. In 1993 Proyas was tapped to helm the screen adaptation of James O'Barr's comic strip The Crow (1994). During production, star Brandon Lee died of an accidental gunshot wound (ironically, the film's story revolves around his character's resurrection). His death cast a pall over the remainder of the filming and its subsequent theatrical release, although reviews were generally favorably, most singling out the production values which created a colorless rain-soaked wasteland that invoked comparisons with Ridley Scott's seminal Blade Runner (1982) and Tim Burton's Batman (1989). Made for about $14 million, it grossed close to $50 million domestically. Proyas seemed set to move on to other projects and was announced as the director of Casper (1995), but left the project and was replaced by Brad Silberling. After a four-year absence he returned with another thriller, Dark City (1998), about an amnesiac who may or may not have been a serial killer. Garage Days (2002) marked Proyas' return to his homeland, Australia: the movie tells the story of a young Sydney garage band desperately trying to make it big in the competitive world of rock 'n' roll. In 2004 Proyas returned to Hollywood: he directed I, Robot (2004), a science-fiction film suggested by the 'Isaac Asimov' short story compilation of the same name that starred Will Smith. It was a box office success, but met with mixed reactions by readers and fans of the Asimov stories.Dark City, Segnali dal futuro...- Director
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André Øvredal was born on 6 May 1973. He is a director and writer, known for Troll Hunter (2010), The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) and Tunnelen (2016).Troll Hunter- Director
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Born in 1960 in Antibes (in the South of France), Christophe Gans became crazy about movies at an early stage. As a teenager, he made a lot of samurai and kung fu super-8 films with his friends. At the end of the seventies, he founded the fanzine "Rhesus Zero" about B-movies. In 1980, he studied at the French cinema school Idhec and directed a short movie called "Silver Slime", a tribute to Mario Bava. In 1982, he founded the magazine "Starfix" and defended directors like David Cronenberg, Dario Argento, Russel Mulcahy, David Lynch, John Carpenter or Sergio Leone. He decided to make movies and directed one of the three parts of _Necronomicon (1994)_ called "The Drowned", then "Crying Freeman" from the famous Japanese manga. Gans created the video collection "HK" devoted to Hong Kong movies. He worked for two years on a free adaptation of Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" but the project failed. In 1999, he was asked to make Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) ("Brotherhood of the Wolf") about the Beast of Gévaudan, an unknown animal who killed more than one hundred people in France at the end of 18th century. The movie was released in January 2001 and was a great success (more than five million people saw it).Silent Hill...- Director
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Pascal Laugier was born on 16 October 1971 in France. He is a director and writer, known for Incident in a Ghostland (2018), Martyrs (2008) and The Tall Man (2012).Martyrs- Writer
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In much the same way that director George A. Romero creative output has been primarily centered around the highly successful "Dead" series of zombie films, then fellow fantasy director Don Coscarelli has for over two decades seen his universe swirling around the lesser successful, but equally cult, and much loved "Phantasm" series of horror movies.
Coscarelli was born in Tripoli in North Africa, but raised around Southern California, and was interested in the cinema from a young age and together with his friends they made several low budget movies that aired on community TV stations to very positive feedback.
After a low key start with his first feature film embracing the trials of a young teenager caught in a world of alcoholic abuse Jim, the World's Greatest (1975), Coscarelli followed this up with a lighter comedic tale about another youngster and his view of the world as an impressionable 12 year old in Kenny & Company (1976). However, the imaginative Coscarelli then really hit the (horror) big time with the 1979 release of the highly inventive fright thriller Phantasm (1979). Once again, a young boy is at the center of a spine-chilling story about a creepy funeral home, a sinister Tall Man (wonderful acting by Coscarelli's long time buddy Angus Scrimm), disappearing corpses, malignant dwarfs and a gateway into a hellish, other world dimension. Shot on a very modest budget, Phantasm (1979) was hotly received by horror fans worldwide, and the film has since spawned three sequels...each fairly decent in their own right! First up was the gorier Phantasm II (1988), followed by Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994), and the third sequel to date, Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998). A fifth and final sequel titled "Phantasm's End" has been apparently discussed, but nothing further has yet eventuated on this project. As the Angus Scrimm is approaching his 80th birthday, Phantasm fans hope that the "Tall Man" will be there for the proposed final chapter of this thrilling saga of the Undead!
Apart from the "Phantasm" series, Coscarelli also wrote and directed the well received sword and sorcery film The Beastmaster (1982) starring athletic Marc Singer and the eye-catching Tanya Roberts being pursued by villainous high priest Rip Torn. And recently in 2002, Coscarelli cast horror & fantasy film screen hero Bruce Campbell in the highly off-beat Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) that depicts Elvis and John F. Kennedy hiding out in a Texas rest home where the residents are being attacked by a 3,000 year old cowboy boot wearing mummy trying to bring itself back to life! A strange script it may sound, but indie and horror film fans loved the unusual premise and quirky humor, and the film was a hot hit at several film festivals and has spawned a further cult following for Coscarelli and Campbell.
Coscarelli, similar to gifted fantasy directors such as Wes Craven, Sam Raimi and George A. Romero has carved himself a true cult niche in modern horror film history, and his loyal fans eagerly await his next project.Phantasm, Bubba Ho-tep...- Cinematographer
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John Gulager was born on 19 December 1957 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a cinematographer and actor, known for Feast (2005), Piranha 3DD (2012) and He Was a Quiet Man (2007). He has been married to Diane Ayala Goldner since 1986.Feast- Writer
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He studied fine arts in Paris in 1990-1992. In 1993 he won the award for Best Screenplay from the Educational Institute of Screenwriting with "A Painter and A Criminal Condemned to Death". After two more screenplay awards, he made his directorial debut with Crocodile (1996) ("Crocodile"). Then he went on to direct Wild Animals (1997) ("Wild Animals"), Birdcage Inn (1998) ("Birdcage Inn"), The Isle (2000) ("The Isle") and the highly experimental Real Fiction (2000) ("Real Fiction"), shot in just 200 minutes. In 1999, Address Unknown (2001) ("Address Unknown") was selected by the Pusan Film Festival's Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) for development.Ferro 3- Director
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Kim Ji-woon was born in Seoul, South Korea. He began his career as an actor before becoming a stage director with productions such as "Hot Sea" in 1994 and "Movie, Movie" in 1995. He then began scripting for films, his first work, 97's "Wonderful Seasons" won Best Screenplay award at Korea's Premier Scenario contest, whilst his follow up The Quiet Family (1998) became not only his directorial debut, but also the source material for Takashi Miike's remake The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) in 2001.
With an official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival and Best Film award at the Fantasport Film Festival for "A Quiet Family", his next film, 2000's The Foul King (2000), was an instant domestic hit, maintaining the #1 spot for over 6 months, with over 2 million admissions, it was also a worldwide festival crowd-pleaser. The short Coming Out (2000) and his contribution to 3 Extremes II (2002) (alongside segments from Peter Ho-Sun Chan and Nonzee Nimibutr) followed and then he made the 2003 horror A Tale of Two Sisters (2003).
He is a fan of film-noir and claims that many of his films contain elements of noir, often mixed with black comedy. His movie A Bittersweet Life (2005) his full on film-noir gangster thriller masterwork.Two Sisters, I Saw the Devil- Director
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Sean Ellis was born in 1970 in Brighton, Sussex, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Metro Manila (2013) and Anthropoid (2016).Cashback, Broken- Writer
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Hitoshi Matsumoto and his childhood friend Masatoshi Hamada teamed up as comedy duo Downtown. When they had their own TV shows in late 80s, they became phenomenal pop culture among young Japanese people. Unlike other comedy duos in Japan, they are still together, and they dominate prime time TV shows in Japan. They are most notably famous for their yearly "batsu" TV special aired on New Years Eve from 18:30 - 00:00 that has been running for 10 consecutive years which gained a large following internationally via YouTube.Big Man Japan, Symbol- Director
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Shion Sono is a Japanese director, writer and poet. Born in Aichi Perfecture in 1961 he started his career working as a poet before taking his first steps in film directing. As a student he shot a series of short films in Super 8 and managed to make his first feature films in the late 80s and early 90s, in which he also starred. The film that helped him reach a wider international audience and establish himself as a cult director is Love Exposure (2008) , released in 2008. Ai no mukidashi is the first installment of Sono's Trilogy of Hate followed by Cold Fish (2010) and concluded with Guilty of Romance (2011). The films of Shion Sono often tell the stories of socially marginalized teenagers or young adults who end up engaging in activities that involve murders, sexual abuse and criminal behavior. Sono's films in most of the cases contain scenes filled with graphic violence and blood that echo the long pinku eiga and anime tradition of Japanese cinema.Strange Circus, Hair Extensions, Love Exposure...- Director
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Born in Kinko-cho, Asakuchi-gun (present-day Asakuchi City), Okayama Prefecture. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as Ring (1998), Ring 2 (1999) and Dark Water (2002). Several of these were remade in English as The Ring (2002), Dark Water (2005), and The Ring Two (directed by himself).
Graduated from Kinko Gakuen High School and, in 1980, entered the Science Department of the University of Tokyo and graduated from the Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts, although he had been offered a position in the Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Engineering. While studying, he attended Shigehiko Hasumi's film seminar and was greatly influenced by his work. At his favorite bar during college, an acquaintance of Masato Hara, president of Herald Ace, introduced him to an assistant director from Masahiro Shinoda's team, and he began working as an assistant director on Shinoda's medium-length film "Allusion Reincarnation Tan" and corporate public relations films.
In 1985, he joined Nikkatsu Studios. Soon after, Hiroyuki Nasu, a senior at Tokyo University, decided to shoot Be-Bop High School at Toei, and because Nikkatsu Studios was used for studio shooting, two of the four assistant directors came out of Nikkatsu, including the first three Be-Bop High School films and Love Story for You. He worked as an assistant director on many Central Arts films and trained almost exclusively at Toei as an assistant director, making his directorial debut in 1992 with Curse, Death & Spirit
After which he moved to the UK. After returning to Japan, he made his directorial debut in 1996 with Don't Look Up. Subsequently, his film Ring (1998), an adaptation of Koji Suzuki's best-selling novel about the tragedy caused by a cursed video, was a huge success, and he became known as a leading figure in Japanese horror.
In 1998 he completed "Joseph Losey: The Man with Four Names," a documentary about Joseph Losey, which he began producing while in England.
After returning to Japan, he was told by Mitsuru Kurosawa, head of Central Arts, that he could direct a V-Cinema film, and in 1995 he directed "Diary of a Female Teacher: Forbidden Sex". He is now considered one of the representatives of J-horror (Japanese horror), along with Kurosawa Kiyoshi and Shimizu Takashi.
In 2003, he won the Art Encouragement Prize for New Talent for "The Last Scene".
"The Ring" was a remake in the United States by another director (Gore Verbinski), but he directed the sequel, "The Ring 2," making his long-awaited Hollywood debut. The discomfort he experienced during his stay in Hollywood was later compiled into the documentary film "An Introduction to Hollywood Director Studies. Also, "Dark Water" was a remake too.
In 2010, "Chatroom," directed in the UK, was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival.
Other films he has directed include "Dark Water" , "Sadistic and Masochistic", "Ghost Theather", "Sadako", "Death Note: L Change the World", "Stolen Identity", "The Woman Who Keeps a Murderer" and many more.Ringu, Dark Waters- Director
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Takashi Shimizu was born on 27 July 1972 in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Ju-on: The Grudge (2002), The Grudge (2004) and Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003).Ju-on, The Grudge...- Director
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Kiyoshi Kurosawa was born on 19 July 1955 in Kobe, Japan. He is a director and writer, known for Tokyo Sonata (2008), Pulse (2001) and Cure (1997).Cure, Pulse - Kairo- Make-Up Department
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Yoshihiro Nishimura was born on 1 April 1967 in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan. He is a producer, known for Tokyo Gore Police (2008), Meatball Machine Kodoku (2017) and The ABCs of Death (2012).Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, Tokyo Gore Police- Director
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Colm McCarthy is a director best known for his work on Peaky Blinders, Sherlock and Endeavour. He was born in Edinburgh and has lived there as well as in Dublin and London. He is happily married and plays a grand total of eight musical instruments all appallingly badly.
He did not formally train in film making, instead he just watched loads of films, read a bunch of books and then started shooting stuff with friends. They borrowed film stock and filmed short films, music videos and random "cool shots" to go into montage sequencesOutcast- Director
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Award-winning Canadian / US producer / writer / director Sheldon Wilson, recently directed "Kaw" for Reel One Entertainment and Sony Pictures. In addition to directing the movie, Sheldon also edited the film and supervised all the visual effects work on over 350 shots, completing a third of those shots himself.
His self-produced, independent feature "Shallow Ground", distributed domestically by Universal Studios, was awarded Best Picture at the 2004 Dead By Dawn Film Festival. The horror feature had a UK theatrical release in 2005 followed by theatrical releases in several other countries including Russia before making it's highly successful US premier on the Sci-Fi Channel. Sheldon also wrote and edited the film in addition to completing most of the digital effects work himself.
Sheldon presently has two other feature films in development as well as one documentary in production. His sci-fi thriller "Dark Days" is in development with Reel One Entertainment, while his currently untitled true crime thriller is being developed into both a feature film and documentary. Production has begun on the documentary, which Sheldon is producing and directing.Shallow Ground- Director
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Fabrice du Welz was born on 21 October 1972 in Belgium. He is a director and writer, known for Alleluia (2014), Adoration (2019) and Calvaire (2004).Calvaire- Director
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Luciano Capponi is known for Butterfly zone - Il senso della farfalla (2009), Stranieri d'Italia (1981) and Stranieri d'Italia la musica s'è desta (1981).Butterfly Zone